The Hindu : Karnataka / Mangalore News : Committee set up to prepare report on Tulu as medium of instruction

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 14, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mangalore

Committee set up to prepare report on Tulu as medium of instruction

Staff Correspondent

Another long-pending demand may get attention

MANGALORE: An initiative to introduce Tulu as a medium of education has begun with the Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy constituting a committee of experts to prepare a framework for this and also submit a report.

The committee comprises Amrut Someshwar, a Tulu and Kannada writer, K. Chinnappa Gowda, Head, Department of Kannada, Mangalore University and also former member of the academy, Paltadi Ramakrishna Achar, a Tulu and Kannada writer, Vamana Nandavar, former president of the Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy, and U.P. Upadhyaya, a writer and folk expert who has been instrumental in the publication of the Tulu dictionary.

Course in Tulu

Besides suggesting measures on how to implement Tulu as a medium of education, the committee will guide the academy on aspects related to teaching of Tulu to government officials for the purpose of conversation and starting a course to teach Tulu.

This has come about after M.K. Seetharama Kulal took over as the president of the academy recently.

Workshop

The academy also organised a workshop to discuss aspects related to inclusion of Tulu as a medium of education.

The outcome of the workshop is the constitution of the committee.

While the committee will work on those aspects, another long pending demand of Tulu-speaking people to include Tulu in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution is also in the pipeline of getting the government's attention.

The former Chief Minister, M. Veerappa Moily, has taken the initiative in this connection.

Mr. Kulal told The Hindu on Friday that the Sita Kant Mohapatra High-power Committee constituted by the Union Government to evolve a set of objective criteria for inclusion of more languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution has submitted its report to the Government.

Tulu is one among the 35 languages waiting to be included in the Eighth Schedule.

Among these 35 languages, some are facing a problem as far as inclusion in the Eighth Schedule is concerned in the light of the report.

However, in the case of Tulu, its inclusion has been delayed as problems related to other languages have to be rectified first.

With political will the demand of Tulu-speaking people may be realised soon.

According to a report of the Tulu Development Forum, Delhi, there are about 1.20 crores Tulu-speaking people in the world.

Of them, over 30 lakhs live in Karnataka. The Tulu-speaking people are mainly concentrated in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kasaragod districts.

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